It gives you a sense of truly fulfilling exploration and discovery without feeling the need to reach particular points of interest but simply enjoying the walk. lection, even for food purposes, can definitely make us cooperative with the natural environment and favor a sustainable vision of our relationship with the biosphere. It typically grows in humid areas or near water and for this reason it will be easy to meet it in the parts of the trail close to the lake. It is a real plant monster that suffocates the native plants that characterize our biodiversity. The spring shoots, similar to large reddish-green asparagus, grow very quickly (on hot and sunny days even 30cm a day) and, if harvested at the right time, are tender and juicy with a pleasant sour and aromatic taste reminiscent of that of rhubarb. You can find them sprouting from the ground among dried plants of the previous year and you can collect a lot of them. You can keep them in the refrigerator and can be eaten cooked in jams or jellies and used for savory and sweet recipes. Inside, they are hollow and lend themselves well to being used as pleasant vegetable cannelloni to be stuffed as you want and then baked in the oven. Or cut and sautéed as an accompaniment to fatty dishes that need a sour tone. I recommend you to try to preserve them in a brine of water, salt, apple cider vinegar and honey. They become an alternative to the classic picalilli, much healthier and more sustainable. Collect them and wash them well. Cut them all to the same height and tuck them neatly into a canning jar. Cover until they are submerged with the brine consisting of 3/5 of apple cider vinegar, 2/5 of water, 1 tablespoon of honey for every 50g of liquid and salt to taste. Let them soak for a month before consuming them. They will be a great surprise during brunches and late spring/summer dinners!
An alternative to the collection of Reynoutria Japonica, tasty and really, in the literal sense of the word, romantic is to take advantage of the young leaves of the edible trees that you would meet along the way to compose an original salad, delicious and rich in active ingredients that are really healthy. The leaves of the trees in the first 4 weeks after the opening of the leaf buds are an excellent vegetable because they are still very tender and assimilable by our body. Over time, the leaves will become more woody, similar to a sheet of paper and unappetizing. It is therefore worth taking advantage of these excellent ingredients immediately! Along The Wanderer’s Trail, you will be able to meet elegant birch trees that stand out with their long and elegant shadows halfway up, iridescent in the silver bark. The leaves are excellent, with a nutty flavor and a strong detoxifying power. And then the majestic beech trees, which often create small forests in the area also called beech woods. The young leaves have a sour, thirst-quenching, slightly astringent taste and have the power to lower blood cholesterol levels. Lower down, absolutely to be collected, are the linden suckers, very tender and crunchy leaves with a taste reminiscent of cucumber, refreshing and satisfying. While the trails climbs up to the highest points, we manage to reach the first conifers and with them the spruce buds. The apical part of the branches of this beautiful and delicious conifer turns light green in spring, and gives us one of my favorite ingredients in the kitchen. The buds are a tender, sour and balsamic vegetable, very rich of vitamin C, which completes our tree salad with a truly unique and special touch.
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